Running from the DEAD
by Last.Laugh.69
Summary: The walking dead has a new character. See the show from Annas pov.
1. Chapter 1

If you would have told me a week ago that I would be standing in the middle of nowhere, holding a rifle, and shooting at flesh eating Zombies, I would have told you that you needed professional help... I would have been wrong.

My name is Anna O'Gowen, just a normal girl living in Atlanta. I go to school, fight with my parents, hang out with my friends… Well I did before the world went to shit. Now everyone I ever loved is gone. I guess I should tell you how all of this started.

I woke up the morning of the apocalypse thinking that it was just going to be another normal day. I grumbled getting out of bed. I didn't want to go to school. I reluctantly got dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, a tight fitting black shirt with silver angel wings down the back and my black converse. I brushed out my long black hair and put on some make up. I smiled in the mirror, my brown eyes looking back at me. "I look pretty damn good today." I thought to myself.

After I was finished getting ready I went downstairs to grab something to eat before school. "oh a peach." I smiled picking up the beautiful colored fruit out of its spot in the bowl.

"Mom, Dad!" I called looking through the house. "They must have already left." I said allowed to myself. It was weird. I thought my mom had the day off. I guess she went somewhere. I finished my peach, grabbed my bag and headed out of the house.

As I stepped out onto the porch I heard a woman scream. My head snapped up to check it out. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Mrs. Draper from across the way was being attacked in her front yard. I stared in disbelief. The people that were attacking her were biting her! Not just biting, but eating!

I dropped my messenger bag and tried to stifle a whimper. Unfortunately it was too late. The attackers from across the street heard me. They looked right at me. I couldn't process what I was seeing. I didn't really have time to figure it out. Suddenly the two deranged people turned their attention on me. They stumbled towards me in jerky movements. Their clothes were torn and bloody. They were snarling and moaning as they advanced on my house.

I knew I didn't have time to waste. If I didn't want to end up like Mrs. Draper I had to do something fast. I grabbed my bag from by my feet and ran inside locking the door behind me. I just made it in before the people started banging and pushing on the door. I took a deep breath and ran upstairs into my room and started packing my skull athletic bag. I grabbed some clothes, personal items. I remembered to run into the bathroom and get my shampoo, deodorant, and hairbrush. When I got back downstairs I ran into the kitchen and grabbed some fruit and other little food items that could be stashed in my bag. I also grabbed some bottles of water. I didn't really know what I was doing or how long I would be gone but I was preparing for anything.

My next stop was my Dads office. That is where he kept the gun safe. I grabbed the keys from his center desk drawer. With shaky hands I opened the safe. Safety inside were Dads rifle, shotgun, and desert eagle. I took all three. I grabbed all the ammo that was in the bottom of the safe, stashed it in my bag and ran back to the front door.

Thankfully the two crazy people were no longer trying to beat down my door. I didn't want to think about what better option could have attracted their attention.

I opened the front door slowly and quietly. I didn't see anything at first. I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked out at my car parked by the mailbox. If I could get there without attracting any attention then I could get the hell out of dodge.

I made it safely to my black HHR. I let out a long breath to calm myself before starting the car. Big mistake. As I was slowly opening my eyes, the face of Mrs. Draper suddenly appeared at my driver's side window. I was unable to stifle the scream that came from my lips. It was Mrs. Draper, but not. Her face had gone grey, and chalky. Her eyes were white voids and she had appeared to have eaten her own lips off. I almost threw up at the sight.

I quickly stuck the key in the ignition and started the car just as she started banging on the window.

I drove away panting from fear. I saw the same repeated sight along my drive that I had seen outside my house. People were chasing people, biting and tearing other people apart. Men, women, and children alike. It was horrible. I was in complete disgust and disbelief at everything I was seeing.

Other people seemed to have the same idea as I did. Traffic was awful, bumper to bumper in places that I usually drove through without a problem.

I couldn't handle the silence any longer so I turned on the radio. Every station was saying the same thing. "Do not leave your homes. Go inside and do not answer the door to anyone. Do not try to find loved ones you will only create more of a problem. Help will come."

"Well too late now." I thought. I was getting the hell out of

Atlanta. If the traffic ever got moving that is.

So that's how I ended out in the middle of nowhere. Sleeping in my car, and trying to stay away from the zombie freaks that were eating people.

Thank god I was about to meet other people.

Please review! i have many more chapters to post!


	2. Chapter 2

It was my sixth or seventh day out in the woods a few miles from the city. I hadn't seen but a few of those zombies walking around. Each time I managed to hide in the back of my car and stay unnoticed until they passed me by. Today I wasn't so lucky.

I was outside of the car enjoying the feel of the cool breeze as it danced across my skin. It was rare that I ventured out of the car, but I hadn't seen anything in a day or so, so I thought I would take the chance.

I heard the snarl before I opened my eyes. They snapped open in the direction of the noise. My eyes widened. This couldn't be happening.

Stumbling towards me from the tree line were four zombies that I could see. I reached down slowly to grab the rifle that leaned against the HHR. It fell over and hit the dirt with a thud. If the zombies didn't know that I was there before, they sure did now. They all turned there vacant gaze towards me. "Shit" I murmured as I grabbed the gun and aimed it at one the dead's heads.

I had seen movies. I wasn't stupid. I knew that you had to kill zombies by shooting them in the head. I just wondered if I could do it. It wasn't that I didn't think that I could hit my mark, it was just that I never thought that my mark would be an actual human being. The thought of shooting another person in the head made me sick, even if it was already dead.

I took a deep breath, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. I watched as the bullet sailed right past the zombie that I had aimed at. My heart sank.

"Get over it Anna" I coached myself out loud. "It's you or them."

I took a deep breath and pointed my gun back at the advancing group. They were getting closer. I was getting worried that I was in too deep.

My next shot rang out, hitting the zombie right between the eyes. "Woo Hoo!" I praised myself as I took aim at the next one, bringing it down just as I had the one before.

At that moment I was so glad that I had grown up learning how to shoot. I brought the third one down as they were about twenty yards away. I had to hurry up and bring the last one down before he got too close.

Of course that was when my gun jammed.

The fourth one, who looked like a redheaded girl close to my age started moving faster. I started to panic as I tried to unjam the rifle in my hands. I was having no luck as she advanced on me.

The zombie girl was about three yards from me when she suddenly fell, an arrow had made its way through the center of her head. I stared in shock. Someone had saved me.

I looked around for my savior. I saw nothing at first. I thought maybe I was going crazy, but then a man slowly made his way through the tree line. He was caring a large crossbow over his shoulder. He looked to be around thirty, but I couldn't tell, he was too far away and seemed to be kind of dirty.

The man said nothing as he continued to make his way to me. I didn't know if I should stay around, or get in my car and go. I didn't know this man. He could have saved me so he could do something much worse to me.

I shifted back in forth on my feet as I nervously made my decision to stay. I watched the man as he closed the distance between us. As he came closer I could see that he had a dirty brown hair color, and the brightest blue eyes that I had ever seen. He paused for a moment to pull his arrow out of the zombies head, then continued to me. My breath caught as he came to a stop in front of me.

The man stared at me for a moment before speaking.

"You alone out here?" he asked in a thick southern boy drawl that would curl any girls' toes.

I hesitantly nodded.

He shook his head. "Aint right." He mumbled.

I didn't say anything back to him. I just stared at him. He had rippling muscles under tight tanned skin. He was dirty and sweaty like a man should be.

"Well" he started. "Good news is that you made it outta yer jam. Bad news is that all those shots you fired will bring in every Walker from miles around."

My stomach twisted as I realized he was right. I looked at the tree line only to see two more Walkers as he called them making their way closer to us.

"Shit!" I groaned.

"That thing got gas?" the guy asked pointing at my car.

I nodded looking in his eyes.

He reached behind me and opened the driver's side door.

"Get in and scoot over." He commanded.

I did as he said without a second thought. I was glad that I had filled up the tank the night before all of this started.

I was so relieved to be with another person I didn't care one bit that I had no idea who in the hell he was.

We drove in silence for a few minutes as we made our way out of my secluded spot.

"Nice spot ya picked." The guy told me.

"It was where my family and I went to go camping." I told him quietly remembering the happy times spent camping, hunting, and fishing.

"Wats yer name?" the man asked in what I had come to notice was the sexiest thick southern voice my ears had ever heard.

"Anna" I told him "Anna O'Gowen."

"Anna" he repeated softly, like he was day dreaming.

"And yours?" I asked.

"Daryl Dixon." He replied keeping his eyes forward.

Daryl Dixon, my savior. I thought to myself as we made our way out of the trees and on to a narrow dirt road.

decided to put up chapter 2! Please review!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

"So where are we going?" I asked Daryl after we had been in the car for a few minutes.

"Got us a campsite up the road a ways." He answered.

"Us?" I questioned, hoping that he didn't have some jealous wife back at camp that I might irritate.

Then I wondered why I thought that. All the man did was save my life. He didn't show any romantic interest in me at all. Besides I knew that he had to be at least ten to fifteen years older than me, maybe more.

"Whole group of us." He answered turning down a slim gravel road.

My heart felt lighter. I was so used to being alone that I was delighted at the thought of a 'Whole Group' of people.

My eyes widened as Daryl parked my Black HHR alongside an old pick-up truck. There really was a whole group of people, Men, Women, and Children. I smiled; I couldn't believe I was going to be able to be around so many live people after living alone for a week. I had thought I was going to die alone in the middle of nowhere. Daryl really was my savior.

As we got out of the car people were staring. Obviously they had no idea who was pulling up to their campsite. They're looks got even more confused when they saw that it was Daryl climbing out of the driver's side of my car.

"Come on kid." He said to me. "Come meet everyone."

I walked around the side of the car to stand by Daryl. Everyone's eyes fell to me. I smiled sheepishly at everyone. Some people returned the smiles some people stared wordlessly.

A guff looking man was the first to approach us. He looked me up and down before looking at Daryl.

"Bringing home stray kittens now little brother?" he smirked.

I looked at Daryl who rolled his eyes. "Shut up Merle."

Merle just laughed and turned his attention back to me. "What's your name lil bit?"

"Anna." I responded flatly wrapping my arms around my torso.

"Anna huh?" He remarked stepping a little closer. If I didn't know better I would say that he smelled the air around me.

"That's a sweet name." he smiled just as Daryl stepped a little in front of me.

I looked at Daryl, grateful for his protective stance. Thankfully everyone else from the camp had made their way over to us by then so I got the chance to meet everyone.

The first to introduce himself was a cop. He was tall and muscular, a very intimidating man. I guess that look came in handy in that line of work.

"Shane Walsh." He said shaking my hand.

I smiled and shook it back.

"Where did you come from?" he asked stepping back and crossing his arms.

"Found her in the middle of nowhere takin down sum walkers." Daryl answered for me. He still hadn't quite relaxed his posture from the conversation with his brother.

"Well your lucky Daryl was out hunting." Shane said giving Daryl a curt nod.

I smiled thinking about the fact that I would have been Walker meat if he hadn't shown up.

A group of little kids were looking at me cautiously from around the side of the truck. I smiled and waved to them. The little ones giggled and ran off to play.

One girl stuck around. She was very slender and blond. She looked about twelve or thirteen. She slowly made her way closer.

"Hi" she waved. "I'm Sophia."

"Hi Sophia." I smiled back. "My name is Anna."

Just then a woman called to her from across camp and the girl groaned and ran off.

I met some other people. It was a little overwhelming after being on my own for what seemed like forever. Never the less I made it through all the introductions, though I couldn't remember all of them by the time I was finished.

It was starting to get dark and chilly by the time that I had met everyone.

"Are you hungry?" asked the woman who was introduced to me as Lori. "We don't have much." She smiled. "But I'm sure we have something for you."

I felt kind of guilty for intruding on this group. I was sure that it was hard to keep such a large group fed.

"I have some food in my car." I pointed out to her with a smile. "I'm sure it will help contribute something."

Lori's eyes widened. "Wonderful!" She walked with me to the back of my car. Being stuck out in the middle of nowhere made me more than grateful that my parents had always taught me to keep a pillow, and blanket in the back of my car. As well as other emergency things like a hoodie, coat, protein bars, first aid kit, and other useful things.

Lori gasped when she saw everything that was in the back of my car.

"Wow kid!" she looked around. "You have everything you need back here."

I smiled as I felt someone walk up next to me. It was Daryl. I can't explain how I knew it was him without seeing him, I just could.

Out of everything that he could have noticed in the back of the car of course the hunter in him was drawn to the box in the corner.

"What'cha got in there?" he asked picking up the box.

I pulled out the dead animals by the ears. "Just some rabbits I got before the Walkers attacked."

Daryl nodded at me. I beamed back with self-approval. He apparently liked the fact that I could do some hunting, being the obvious hunter he was him-self.

"We can stew these up tonight." Lori smiled to my left.

I smiled back. "That sounds great!" I was glad that I was already pulling my weight with the group.

We grabbed a few more things from the back of the car and headed up the hill to the center of camp.

Daryl walked next to me on the way.

"You do realize that shooting those rabbits is prolly what brought those Walkers to you?" He asked kind of aggravated.

I had thought of that. It was a stupid thing to do. I looked at him. He was staring at me with such disapproval that I didn't know what to say.

"I guess I'm lucky that you were there to save me." I smiled trying to lighten the mood.

"And if I hadn't." he asked.

I didn't even want to think about that.

"Then I guess I'd be dead, and we wouldn't be having this conversation!" I spat at him, then turned on my heel and marched back to my car.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked myself as I set out the back with my feet dangling out.

I couldn't figure out why he was so mad at me. Daryl didn't even know me. Why would he care if I had died back there? It wouldn't have made a difference in his life. Then the answer hit me. Of course it would have made his life worse. I would've been one more Walker that he would have had to deal with at some point. If I was hold up in his hunting area, then I would have been in his way after I turned.

I laid back and closed my eyes. Men were so irritating I thought.

I was laying there for quite a while when I heard someone walking up to the car. I could tell it was human by the fluency in its steps. I didn't bother to acknowledge the person. I was too upset to care.

"Ya gonna eat?" Daryl asked sitting down next to me. He placed a plate on my stomach.

"Guess I don't have a choice, do i?" I grabbed the plate and held it so I could sit up.

The rabbit stew smelled and looked fantastic. I guessed Lori had cooked it since she was the one who had been so interested in the food.

Daryl sat silently next to me as I took a bite.

"Look." I started after I swallowed. "I get why you were mad earlier.

"Why's that?" he asked seeming sort of amused.

I ate a few more bites before answering.

"If those Walkers had got ahold of me, then I would have just been one more Walker in the way that you would have to put down." I told him.

His face hardened for a second before he said a simple "G'night Anna." Sighed and left.

I watched him walk away wordlessly. "What the hell." I thought to myself as I finished my meal. I had managed to piss this man I off twice in the few hours since I had met him, and I didn't even really know him.

I didn't bother going back up to camp with my plate. I just sat it in the corner, pulled down the hatch back, curled up in my blanket and went to sleep.

My dreams were anything but easy though. I dreamt of angry snarling grey faces chasing me through the woods with no way to escape. I turned corners and there were more everywhere. Just as they were about to pounce on me I woke up screaming covered in sweat with the sun streaming in on me from the car windows.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered as I threw the covers off of me breathing deeply.

I guessed that was a little taste of what might have happened if Daryl hadn't been there to save me the day before.

 ** _ooooooo... Please review!_**


	4. Chapter 4

Someone was knocking on my car window. I groaned and looked over. It was Lori. I opened the hatch back and climbed out.

"Hey." I smiled.

"Hi." She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. "I was a little worried when you didn't come back up to camp last night."

"Sorry." I sighed. "I was just really tired." I sure wasn't going to tell her about my conversation with Daryl. I was still confused about it myself. I didn't need other people wondering about it to.

"I can understand that." She nodded. "You had a big day yesterday.

I nodded in answer. "So what can I do to help around here?" I beamed at her. I needed something to take my mind off of everything that was going on.

"Well there is plenty." She put her arm around me motherly like and started leading me up to the center of camp.

Over the next few minutes she explained how things worked around camp and who did what. I would have offered to do a little hunting but I didn't want a repeat of that had happened when I caught the rabbits. I would never be able to live with myself I were to get them all killed just by shooting off my gun.

I offered to help with the laundry, mainly because all my stuff needed a good washing too. So I grabbed my bag out of the back of my car, emptied it out, and refilled it with all of my dirty things. I trudged down to the quarry where a few other of the women were already at work washing.

"Hi." I smiled sitting down in the empty space next to a girl who I thought I remembered as Amy.

She smiled back pleasantly. I got my clothes out of my bag and got to work. At least it was clean water we were using.

After a couple hours and some small talk our little group made its way back up into central camp.

Everyone was gathered around talking when we arrived.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Asked the little Korean kid, I couldn't remember his name.

"I don't think we have a choice." T-Dog replied shifting back and forth nervously on his feet.

"It's just that I'm pretty sure that I could do this better on my own."

"I'm sure you can Glenn." Shane informed him. "But we need way too many things for you to be able to go by yourself."

"What's going on?" Andrea said from beside me as she sat her basket down.

"We need to make a run into town." Shane answered.

"But town is over run!" I exclaimed panicky.

"We have gone in before." Shane assured me placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. This made Daryl look at Shane with daggers in his eyes. I didn't think that those two were very fond of each other.

"Who all is going?" I asked, trying but failing to keep my eyes off of Daryl.

"A small group." Shane explained. "Merle, T-Dog, Glenn, Jacqui, and Morales."

I didn't know why but I felt so much better that Daryl wasn't going into town with the group. Even though for his sake I didn't much like the idea of his brother going either.

"I'm going too." Andrea said from beside me.

"No way!" Amy told her panicking.

Andrea turned to her sister.

"I need to go." She explained hugging her. "I can help."

Amy started to cry and walked away. Everyone let her go.

"Ok everyone" Shane said clasping his massive hands together. "Get ready tonight. You guys go out first light tomorrow."

Everyone nodded and moved off in their own way to get ready. I made my way back to my car with my wet clothes. I was pretty sure that if I laid them out on the hood of the HHR that they would dry in no time.

My underwear would be a problem I thought looking around. I thought maybe I could open the car windows and hang them over the seat to dry. They were small and wouldn't take much time.

When I was done I sat on the back of my car and thought about everything going on.

I was taken in so easy by this band of misfits. Every race, gender and age occupied our little camp.

I was glad that Daryl had found me alone in the woods.

"Thinkin hard there lil kitten?" Merle asked as he walked up to the back of my car.

I groaned. "Why do you call me that?" I asked kind of annoyed, but also kind of touched that he took the time out to come talk to me.

Merle shrugged. "You look like a lil lost kitten to me."

I laughed.

"Well how old are you? Fourteen?" he asked.

I laughed harder. I always knew I looked younger that I was, but not that young.

Merle stared at me with amusement in his eyes.

"I turned eighteen last month." I informed him.

"Ah," He smirked. "So you're not a kitten now are you? Yous a full grown Pussy cat."

I didn't like the way he was looking at me. I smiled meekly.

Merle reached up and brushed a stray piece of hair from my face just as Daryl walked up.

I jerked away embarrassed. Don't get me wrong. Merle was very good looking in that rugged redneck way. But he was also like way older than me. I wasn't sure how much but I knew that he was too much 'Man' for me.

"Hey baby brother." Merle said looking at Daryl like nothing had happened.

"Shane wants you." He told him emotionless.

Merle winked at me before leaving wordlessly. I let out the breath I was holding in a long sigh.

"Everything ok?" Daryl asked.

"Fine." I gave him a fake smile.

"What did Merle say to you?" he asked sitting down next to me.

I laughed uneasily. "I think…" I started then took a deep breath. "I think he was hitting on me."

I could see that Daryl got instantly tense.

"How old are you?"

"I turned eighteen last month." I informed him.

Daryl shrugged still tense in his posture. "Yer legal," He said simply. "If ya'll like each other." He looked at me raising an eyebrow with the last part.

I shook my head. "No"

He seemed to relax slightly.

I smiled at him.

"Anna," he stared, just as we heard Shane holler at him from across camp.

Daryl muttered something under his breath and left without saying a word to me.

"Well" I smiled to myself. I do believe that Mr. Dixon might like me. I sat in the back of my car blushing and smiling like an idiot.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke the next morning to a gentle tapping on the back window of the HHR. I looked up with sleepy eyes. It was Merle. I didn't want to respond to him. After last night I didn't know what kind of mood he was in.

"It's ok Anna." I heard Daryl's voice. "I'm out here too. You can open up."

I felt relieved and trusted Daryl so I slowly made my way to the hatch and opened it.

I looked out to see a very tired looking Merle looking at me cautiously with Daryl right behind him. I looked at Daryl with question in my eyes.

"Look kitten." Merle started. "About last night."

I looked at him with distaste.

"Sorry." He told me. "I had a lil too much to drink and I shouldn'a done wat I did."

I looked at him for a moment trying to decide whether or not to forgive him. What he had done was awful. It could have been even worse had it not been for Daryl. I decided I would forgive him. He did seem like an ok guy just as Daryl had said, a little rough, but ok. I however was not going to make him think that a sorry was going to make it all ok. I would not trust being alone with him especially at night. I would also remember to not let my guard down and keep my knife on me at all times.

I slowly stood up in front of Merle.

"Ok" I told him. Then I got real close to him. "Just remember that if you ever try anything like that again, I will cut your balls off."

There was complete silence. For a moment I was afraid that maybe I had gone too far. Just as I started to back up both of the Dixon boys burst out laughing.

"Yes ma'am." Merle laughed. "I will remember that."

Merle started to walk away laughing. Daryl looked at me and nodded approvingly. I smiled back at him. I was shaking on the inside but I was starting to calm down.

I walked with Daryl up to the center of camp where the volunteers were getting ready to leave. Amy was hugging onto Andrea pleading with her one last time not to go. Everyone was saying their goodbyes and assuring everyone that they would be back.

There wasn't much of an exchange between the Dixon boys, just a curt nod between the two.

After everyone left Daryl approached me.

"So ya wanna learn ta hunt quietly?" He asked holding up his crossbow.

I blushed in shame at the memory of almost getting myself killed by shooting my rifle off just to get a few rabbits.

"I'd love too!" I managed a small smile to him.

"Well alright then." He nodded towards my car. "Ya'd better go get sumthin else on, I think yer a lil noticeable in that." He finished looking at my white tank top and pajama pants.

I blushed as his eyes seemed to linger a little too long on the tank top.

"I'll be right back." I smiled and dashed off towards my car to change.

Soon I returned in a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark green tank top. I had also pulled my long black hair into a side braid. I didn't want it getting in the way during the hunt.

"Better." Daryl stated as we walked off to the north of camp.

I couldn't help but smile to myself. I was happy to have this alone time with him, even if it was something as quiet as hunting.

I watched Daryl as he searched for his prey. It was like watching a wolf out on the hunt. Every move he made was in response to his surroundings. This was a man who had hunted his whole life.

Suddenly we stopped. I was trying to look at whatever Daryl was looking at. After a moment he pointed in the distance. It was a squirrel. Daryl slowly took his crossbow from its lowered position, took aim at the little creature, and fired. The bolt sped from the bow at lightning speed taking the poor little animal down a few yards in front of us.

We walked up to the little animal and Daryl removed the arrow from it and tied it to a string he had around his waist.

"That was amazing." I informed him with a smile.

"No biggie." He shrugged modestly. "Been doin it my whole life."

I could tell.

"Your next." He told me handing me the bow and pointing off in the distance at another squirrel.

I took a deep breath as he handed me the crossbow. I had shaky hands and doubted if I could hit it if it was two feet in front of me.

Never the less I took aim at the little creature and fired. I watched in dread as the bolt speed right past him and stuck in a tree a few feet away.

I slumped my shoulders.

"Sorry Daryl." I said looking at him with wide sad eyes.

He sighed and took the bow from me. We walked wordlessly to where the bolt had stuck in the tree. Daryl removed it and loaded it back into the crossbow.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked after about ten minutes of silence.

"No I aint mad." He informed me as his eyes searched for another animal of prey.

After a few minutes he spotted another squirrel in the distance.

Daryl handed the bow back to me, but this time instead of letting me shot by myself he stood behind me and placed his hands over mine on the bow. Needless to say this was not helping me. I started to breathe a little sharper, and faster as I could feel his warm breath on the side of my neck. I knew he had to be leaning down since I was so much shorter than him.

I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying his nearness.

"Aim and take a deep breath." He breathed softly onto the side of my neck.

I almost moaned as his deep southern voice flowed into me.

I took a deep breath and aimed and the little squirrel sitting on the rock a few yards away.

"Now let the breath out slowly and release." He whispered.

I did as he instructed and sure enough the bolt sped way and hit its mark.

"I did it!" I turned around excitedly and without thinking I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

I felt his arms go around me nervously. After a moment reality hit me and let go of him blushing.

"Sorry." I said red faced looking down at the ground.

"For what?" he asked as he hurriedly bent down and claimed my mouth with his.

I was taken aback by shock, but I quickly returned the deep kiss just as passionately as he had given it.

Suddenly we heard a branch snap and Daryl's head snapped up, breaking the kiss, and looking in the direction of the noise. I looked too and off in the distance was a young deer.

Daryl put his finger to my lips letting me know to keep quiet as he loaded the bow with another arrow and aimed it towards the deer.

"If he could get that deer it would be amazing." I thought to myself. "It would feed the whole camp and then some."

Suddenly Daryl fired and hit the deer who ran off with the arrow stuck inside its hide.

"Damn it!" Daryl exclaimed taking off after the deer.

I followed quickly behind him as he tracked the deer. I couldn't wait to bring it down and take it back to camp.

I smiled to myself as we ran after it. Daryl Dixon had kissed me and it was so good that my toes were still curled.


	6. Chapter 6

We followed the deer for what seemed like forever. It stopped at one point in which Daryl shot at it again. I was feeling sorry for the poor thing and hoped it would just die already so that I didn't have to think about it running around in pain with arrows sticking out of it. After a while we lost sight of it. We picked up a few more squirrel while we were looking for it and trying to make our way back to camp. I had given up on the deer, but I could tell that Daryl was still tracking it as we made our way back.

"Shhhh…" Daryl stopped suddenly as we heard the scream of a child.

I stopped with him and looked around panicky. I knew it had to be one of the kids at camp because we were almost there. We took off in a dead run into the direction we had heard the scream. Finally we came up upon the other campers who were terrified. Some were crying the others were taking care of a Walker who had been feasting on none other than the deer that we had been following.

I gasped at the sight. By the time they had finished with the Walker he was laying on the ground headless.

Daryl was not concerned with it though. He was pissed off that the Walker had taken down the deer that he had worked so hard all day to track.

He asked if maybe we thought we could just cut around the bad meat, but Dale told him he didn't think that was wise. Daryl seemed to accept it but he was still mad.

Suddenly the Walker started snapping at thin air. Well to be more accurate the Walkers head started snapping. We were all appalled at the sight. It was one thing to see an actual Walker trying to east you, but to just see a head was another thing all together.

Without a second thought Daryl pointed the crossbow at the moving head and fired.

"It's gotta be the head." He started to walk away mumbling something that I couldn't hear.

I sighed and followed after him as he called for Merle. Shane followed after him as well trying to get him to stop and talk to him.

Andrea and Amy called me over by them at that point so even though after a few seconds Daryl was yelling I still couldn't make out everything. What I managed to make out though was that obviously the group had come back from Atlanta. I was relieved to know that. They also seemed to have picked up another person on their trip. It was a good looking man in a cop uniform. Daryl asked who he was. His name was Rick. I remembered hearing something about Lori's husband being a cop named Rick. I thought if this was the same man that that would be amazing.

Then the bomb shell. Merle didn't come back.

Daryl was distraught, demanding to know if he was live or not.

Apparently this Rick character had handcuffed Merle to a pipe on the roof of a building. I found this appalling. How could someone do that to another human being? Especially at a time like this. If Walkers didn't manage to get to him the Atlanta sun would dehydrate then cook him.

I was sick to my stomach. I felt so bad for Daryl. There was no possible way that Merle would make it out of the situation alive.

I left Andrea and Amy to go over by Daryl. I laid a hand on his shoulder but he jerked away. I recoiled with the rejection. I knew it wasn't directed at me but I felt hurt none the less.

When all was said and done they agreed that a small group of the campers would go back for Merle. Apparently T-Dog had padlocked the roof access door on his way out so that the Walkers would have a harder time trying to get to him.

Of course this meant that after all my excitement of Daryl not going on the first run into town that there would be no question that he would be going back in for his brother.

My heart sank as I made my way to the back of my car. I was worried about everything. I was trying to figure it all out. What was that kiss in the woods all about? Why did Daryl have to go and do that when he was probably just going to go off and get his dumb redneck ass killed? I kicked the rocks in front of me in frustration. I turned around only to find Daryl standing there looking at me.

"What ya mad about?" he asked slightly amused.

At first I just stared at him. I didn't know what to say. I was mad over several things, but the true question was 'did I have the right to be upset?'

He had only kissed me once in the woods, and it was in the heat of the moment. Did he really want to do it?

I calmed myself and returned his question with a question of my own.

"When are you leaving?"

"First thing in the morning." He sighed. "We would never make it back before dark if we left now."

I nodded.

"Anna did I do something?" he asked tentatively.

I glared at him. "Yes! You kissed me!" I spat at him.

"I see." He glared as his face hardened.

I took me a moment to realize that I didn't bother to explain why that made me so mad.

As he turned to walk away I grabbed on to his shoulder. He tensed up but stopped. He didn't make a move to turn around and face me.

"Daryl I…" I started, but cut me off.

"I get it." He huffed. "I kissed ya, and ya didn't want it. I'll do good to remember that."

"You stubborn ass redneck hick!" I fumed. I was beyond mad. "That's all I've wanted you to do since you saved my life!"

At this he whirled around to face me.

"Then why…"

"I'm mad because you kissed me and now you're going away, and what if you never come back? I'll never…"

He cut off my babble with a kiss. I instantly melted into him. It was raw and passionate. His large rugged hands roamed over my body. I felt like I was on fire and he was the flame. After what seemed like an eternity his hands moved to cup the sides of my face and the kiss broke.

"Girls worry too much." He smiled looking at my blissful face. "I'll be back before you know it."

I smiled softly. I guess if anyone could make it back it would be Daryl Dixon.

He kissed me softly again before adding. "With my dumb ass brother in tow."

This made me laugh. Daryl wiped the tears from my eyes just as Shane came around the corner he looked like he was in a very bad mood.

"Daryl," he started staring at me. "Everything ok here."

I nodded and smiled. "Tip top Mr. Lawman." I joked.

He looked at me for a moment no doubt trying to decide if I was lying or not. I guess he believed me because he turned his attention to Daryl.

"We need to go over the plans for tomorrow."

I could tell Shane was still suspicious about our interlude. But Daryl just winked at me and walked away with him.

I turned around sighing. I needed to get out of my dirty clothes. Running through the forest all day sure could make a girl sweaty, and hungry I thought as my stomach growled. It also made me smile to think of my time out in the woods with Daryl. The kiss we shared had been nothing short of an electric shock that shot through my body.

After I changed into my pajamas and tank top I sighed and made my way up to the fire for my helping of delicious squirrel stew.


	7. Chapter 7

Dinner was tense and quiet. I knew everyone had that day's events on their minds tomorrows as well. People were happy that their loved ones had made it home in one piece and with a new addition. They were however upset that some of them would be leaving again the next morning.

I looked over at Lori and her family. She was happy to have her husband back, and Carl his dad. I was happy for them. I just wished that he didn't come at the expense of Merle. I also wasn't sure yet how I felt about Rick.

Nobody said much except for small conversation between people who were close, and the children who weren't involved in grown up affairs.

"You need to get something else besides squirrel." I laughed at Daryl trying to lighten the mood. A few other people gave a small chuckle.

He looked up at me from his spot on the ground to my left.

"Lota squirrels" he shrugged emotionless taking a bite.

I looked away. I knew he was upset so I tried not to take his tone personal.

"Sides," he looked at me with a smile. "Yer the rabbit catcher."

This made other people at camp laugh. I couldn't help but join them. I still knew what I done had been stupid, but under normal circumstances I was quite the rabbit hunter.

I reached over and shoved Daryl in the head. This made people stop laughing. I had pretty much figured out that everyone avoided the Dixon boys. They viewed them at mean, temperamental, and as much as I hated to say it, redneck white trash.

I had seen the way Daryl was with everyone else. He was distant, rude, flippant, cruel, and anti-social. Hell I had received his attitude as well. But I also I knew otherwise. I had seen the side of Daryl that was funny, loving, and kind. The one who longed for the human companionship those others could not give him.

After a moment Daryl shoved my leg with his elbow in response. This made the group relax.

"Brat." He laughed sitting his plate down.

"Hick." I responded quietly to where only he could hear.

He looked up and me and gave me his sheepish, one eye half closed grin that I had become so fond of over the past few days.

I sat my plate down and rubbed my hands together. It was getting chilly even by the fire.

"Cold?" Daryl asked taking off his long sleeved blue shirt. He had on a sleeveless shirt underneath. I couldn't help but take a moment to stare at his tan muscles as they flexed. I nodded as he reached up and put the shirt around my shoulders. I closed my eyes and inhaled. His smell clung to the shirt.

The other campers watched the exchange in silence. This had gone a little farther that a few harmless remarks made in fun. This was a grown man giving his shirt to what they assumed was a young teen girl.

The two cops looked especially worried. I didn't care though. Let them think what they wanted. I wasn't going to let them ruin my night. I was eighteen. Had any other them bothered to care enough to ask then they would know that. I was going to let them worry.

I yawned. "I'm getting tired."

Daryl stood grabbing his crossbow from beside him. "I'll walk ya down to yer car."

"Maybe someone else should go too, just in case." Rick objected.

I stopped and looked at him. I didn't know this man, and from what I did know so far I didn't like him. He was the one that left Merle on the roof in the first place. If it hadn't been for him then Daryl wouldn't be going back into Atlanta risking his life.

"We will be just fine." I informed him as I walked in front of Daryl and into the darkness.

"What was that all about?" He asked me as we neared the car.

I told him exactly what was on my mind.

"I told you not to worry." He said as we stopped and I lifted the hatch up.

I turned around to face him and he cupped my chin in his hand.

"Ya don't think I can take care of myself?" He teased.

I smiled softly. "I know you can. I just… I just can't lose anyone else." I told him as a tear slid down my cheek.

He kissed my forehead.

"Hell," I laughed wiping the tear away. "I even can't wait until that ass-hat of a brother of yours is back."

Daryl laughed as we sat down. "Yeah I do kinda miss the sum-bitch."

I laughed looking out into the darkness. The moon was almost full and you could see everything for miles. We sat in silence for a bit before I spoke.

"Do you think that there are very many people left in the city?" I asked.

Daryl didn't answer for a minute. Then he sighed.

"I'm sure that sum are hold up places."

"Do you think they will make it?" I looked at him.

He put his arm around me. "I'm sure sum will."

I put my head on his shoulder. "Will you stay with me tonight?" I asked softly.

Daryl tensed up.

I pulled away. "Sorry, I just didn't want to be alone."

He pulled me back to him trying to comfort me by placing soft kisses in my hair. "Sure Anna."

I hugged him back "Thank you."

Then we climbed into the back of the car and closed the hatch.

We lay down on top of the blanket with me wrapped tightly in Daryl's arms. I knew that there was that chance that I wouldn't see him after that night so I tried to stay awake as long as possible. That didn't last long though. I felt way too safe in Daryl's arms that before I knew it I was fast asleep.

It was the first peaceful night's sleep I had had since the night before i saw my first Walker.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you so much for the reviews! I love knowing how everyone is feeling about the story. im hoping by now that i have you hooked. i try to stay true to most big events but i dont want you to feel like you are reading the script. Anyways enjoy! And keep up with the comments!

I woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning. I was still snuggled in Daryl's arms. I smiled. He was still fast asleep holding me tight.

I didn't want the sun to continue to rise. I knew that any moment Daryl would have to wake up and go on his mission into town. I frowned.

What if this was all I ever had of him?

What if I never got the chance to take us further?

What if I never had the chance to fall in love with this man that I had become so attracted to?

A tear started to slide down my cheek as the 'What ifs' continued to flow from my mind.

Daryl's thumb came up suddenly to wipe the tear from my face. I smiled and turned my head to him. His face was soft, and his eyes still mostly closed.

"What'cha cryin fer?" he asked sleepily.

I smiled at him. "No reason in particular, just everything."

He kissed me softly, taking all the negative thoughts from my mind.

Of course the knock on the back window of the car ruined it.

I looked up and saw Lori, and Rick. "Of course." I groaned rolling my eyes.

I opened up the hatch, squinting at the bright sunlight.

Rick cleared his throat before he spoke. "It's almost time to go."

"I'm comin." Daryl responded gruffly.

Lori gave be a worried look but didn't say anything.

So they apparently thought something had happened between Daryl and I the night before.

"Give us just a minute." I smiled. "Then he's all yours."

Rick nodded reluctantly and they walked away.

"Please don't leave me here alone with these people." I teased.

Daryl laughed. "You know I'll be back." He puffed his chest up. "Ain't no Geek out there can take me down."

I laughed playfully as I shoved him.

"You better." I started to take off his shirt that he had let me wear the night before, but he stopped me by grabbing my hand.

"Keep it." He brushed my hair from my eyes. "That way ya got sumthin while I'm gone."

I threw my arms around him like a lost little girl. I hugged him so tight that I thought I might break him. I still wasn't sure what Daryl and I really were, but I was going to be pissed off if I lost out on my chance to find out.

After a few moments I saw the group that was going starting to walk down the road towards us. I let go of Daryl with tears in my eyes. They threatened to fall but I held them back trying not to seem too much like a baby.

"Time's up." I said softly.

"I'll be back soon." Daryl said as he grabbed his crossbow from the front seat where he had laid it the night before, and then kissed me on the forehead.

And with that he was gone.

I climbed up onto the top of the car so that I could watch the group as long as I could. I watched them drive away until the truck looked like nothing more than an ant as it disappeared beyond the trees.

Finally after enough time of feeling sorry for myself I climbed down from the car and got dressed. I knew that it was going to be too warm to wear Daryl's shirt so after I got dressed in a pair of shorts, and tank top I tied it around my waist.

After getting dressed I made my way up to central camp. Dale was keeping his usual watch on top of the RV. He smiled at me. He always had a friendly old man smile for pretty much anyone.

Lori was sitting down doing something I couldn't see from my vantage point, but she looked distracted. I'm sure she was worried about Rick. I would be too if I thought my husband was dead, then suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I wouldn't want him to leave my sight.

Apparently Andrea and Amy had gone down to do some fishing. I'd rather eat squirrel. I hate fish. I knew that with the Zombie Apocalypse that I would have to learn to eat a lot of stuff that I didn't want to, but I wasn't ready to give that up yet. Especially when I knew that there was something else to eat. If I got hungry I would eat something else. I wasn't hungry at that moment though. My stomach was all twisted in knots thinking about Daryl being safe.

"Hey kiddo." Carol smiled coming up to me.

I smiled. I liked Carol. She was nice. I couldn't stand that rude ass abusive husband of hers though. All he did was yell and sit on his ass. He was little quieter since Shane beat the hell out of him for hitting Carol.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Do you think you could help me keep an eye on the kids today?" She asked. "With people gone and the Walker being so close to camp I just want to keep an extra eye on them."

I put my hand on her arm. "I've got something better. How about I spend the day with the kids, and you go down to the quarry and relax for the day."

Carol looked appalled. "I couldn't do that!"

"Why not?" I asked.

She looked over at her tent were I knew her husband was laying his lazy ass.

"And he is going to know how?" I asked her raising a brow. "I doubt he even comes out of that tent for hours to come. You need the break. Please just take it."

She smiled at me still unsure. Suddenly she hugged me. "Thank you." She whispered in my ear before pulling away and making her way down the trail.

I smiled as I watched her go. I was glad I was able to help out her situation. She needed some time away. She was always wound so tight, walking on egg shells.

I walked over to the fallen tree where the kids were playing.

"Hey guys what are you doing?"

Sophia shrugged. "We are trying not to be so bored but its hard."

"Yeah." Carl groaned. "There is nothing to do."

I smiled. "What if I told you that I could make all your boredom go away?"

All the kids popped their heads up smiling.

"Follow me." I whispered covertly. I made my way to the back of my car as the kids followed quietly behind me.

I opened the hatch and pointed the little TV screen that hung down from the center of the roof.

"Oh my gosh!" Sophia's eyes got huge. "What do you have to watch?"

I reached inside and grabbed the little DVD case that always stayed in my car and handed it to her.

After twenty minutes of very heated debate between all the kids they finally decided on Gnomeo and Juliet. I laughed as we all climbed in the back of the car. I put in the movie and we all got settled in to watch it.

I knew I was wasting valuable battery life to run the entertainment, but these kids needed this. They hadn't got to do anything kid like since the Walkers first came. I smiled as I watched them. Yup it was well worth it.

We didn't leave the car until later that afternoon when we heard a commotion up at camp. Andrea and Amy were back, and they each had what must have been thirty fish each. As much as I hated fish I had to admit that there catch was extremely impressive.

Everyone was in such good spirits that they decided to have a big fish fry.

Worst idea ever…


	9. Chapter 9

I was sitting in front of the fire with my legs curled up to my chin when it happened. I was trying to keep my mind from wondering to all the bad reasons why Daryl and the group hadn't come back from their trip. I could tell everyone else was just as worried.

That's when Amy screamed. It was a scream of pain and terror. Everyone looked towards the RV startled. We watched in horror, helpless as a Walker bit Amy.

Everything happened all at once. More Walkers came and people got there weapons to defend themselves. It was mass chaos. Everyone was screaming and trying to hold on to loved ones. I grabbed my Desert Eagle from the waist band of my shorts and shot at what I could. There was no point in being quiet now. The walkers had found us. It was stupid for us to think that we could have a normal night. Stupid for us to leave camp unprotected. I watched in horror as some of the campers were bitten.

Suddenly from the trees arrived the small group. I didn't have time to worry about Daryl as I had three walkers descend upon me. I panicked. There was no way I was going to be able to get myself out of this one.

I shot one of the Walkers, bringing it down just at my feet. Another lunged at me, just missing my arm, but shoving me down to the ground onto my butt. Suddenly Daryl was at my side, taking out both the remaining Walkers simultaneously by shooting one in the head and driving a knife through the others.

I couldn't think for a moment. That was so close.

"Get up!" Daryl yelled at me as he yanked me up from my sitting position and pulled me along with him.

Suddenly it was all over as quick as it had begun. We all stood in shock, unable to find the words for what had happened. The dead Walkers outnumbered the people left alive. My heart thumped wildly in my chest as my eyes searched for our losses.

We had lost a few people. Suddenly I couldn't stand any longer. I slumped to the ground with a thud.

I could hear someone; multiple someone's trying to speak to me. I could hear what they were saying. I tried to respond, but each time I tried nothing would come out.

"Has she been bitten?" I heard a woman's panicky voice ask.

"No I think she is just in shock." Someone answered.

I knew I hadn't been bitten, though I would have if Daryl hadn't saved me once again. Suddenly I wondered how in the hell I had survived as long as I had before he had found me. It seemed like I was always in need of saving.

I stared blankly in the distance. Maybe I should have never joined this group I thought sadly to myself. I did better on my own. I wasn't a hindrance to a group of people who had enough to worry about without me.

After a few moments people stopped fussing over me and went on to do what needed to be done. They quietly hid themselves from the night. Bodies couldn't be moved yet, it was too dark. People had to protect themselves from further threats until morning.

I felt myself being lifted up and carried away. A few moments later I was locked safely inside the back of the HHR. I was still in Daryl's arms as I started to cry myself to sleep.

The sun was shining brightly through the car windows as I woke up alone the next morning. At first I almost forgot what had happened the night before until I looked down and saw the blood stains on my shirt. I ripped it off quickly and threw it across the car.

I was going to put on a clean shirt, but thought about the bloody work that was ahead for the day. I sighed and reluctantly retrieved the shirt and put in back on. I crawled out of the back of the car to see what there was that I could do to help.

I walked up to a horrible sight. The dead were being disposed of by the men of the group. Walkers went in the pile to be burned, and our own went in a line to be buried. It was a gruesome sight and it was hard for me not to throw up at the sight.

Suddenly Jacqui yelled. "Jims been bitten!"

Everyone immediately stopped doing what they were doing.

"Show us." Daryl Said going up to him.

Jim backed up trying to get away from the mob that suddenly crowded around him.

T-Dog grabbed him from behind pinning his arms behind him as Daryl lifted his shirt to reveal a bite mark on Jim's stomach.

Everyone backed away as T-Dog let him go.

Poor Jim just repeated "I'm ok, I'm ok." Over and over as he backed away.

I didn't know what to think. I had never been around someone who was bitten and lived from it. It was horrifying. What did we do?

"I say we take care of it right now!" Daryl ran at Jim with the pick axe that he held in his hands.

I was mortified.

Just as suddenly Rick was beside him with his gun pressed to his head. "We don't kill the living."

I gasped.

Daryl reluctantly backed away. "That's funny comin from the man that just had a gun pressed to my head."

I watched in horror unable to speak. The group was falling apart.

Nobody noticed my presence, thankfully because I didn't want to be noticed at that moment.

Eventually they decided to put Jim in the RV until something was decided. There was very heated discussion about what was the right thing to do with him.

I watched silently for a few more minutes before making my way unnoticed down to the quarry. I wanted to be alone, and there didn't look like there was anything that I could do back at camp.

I was sitting with my feet in the water when I heard a gunshot. It startled me for a moment. I didn't bother to go see what it was. I wasn't sure if I didn't want to know or it I knew that I would just find out later anyway.

"What you doin down here by yerself?" Daryl asked sitting down next to me.

I turned and looked at him. I didn't really have anything to say. I didn't want to think about how he had acted back at camp.

"Ya not talkin to me?" he asked raising a brow.

I sighed. "Seeing you act like that just caught me off guard."

I knew he was mad. It hadn't escaped my attention that Merle had not returned with the group. I wasn't going to bring it up though. I would talk about it when he was ready.

Daryl seemed to choose his word before responding to me.

"He is infected. He's a risk." He answered.

"But at the moment he is still just Jim." I told him.

"I know." Daryl laid his hand on my bare leg. Despite everything going on his touch still sent electric shocks through me. "But when don't have any idea when he will turn."

I knew he was speaking the truth, though I didn't know what to say so I just nodded.

"If he turned with you near him and I wasn't there…" He looked out onto the water.

I didn't know what to say. I looked up into his eyes. They were sad and tired. He was dealing with so much. Suddenly I reached up and threw my arms around his neck hugging him tight. "I'm so glad you made it back safe."

He hugged me back without responding. We stayed like that for a while before we made our way wordlessly back to camp.

It was time for the funeral for our people, and a whole new set of tears to start falling.


	10. Chapter 10

After much discussion or maybe it was just Rick telling us what we were going to do we decided that we were going to try to make it to the CDC in Atlanta. If anyone had any answers for us it would be them.

I tried to keep the worry off of my face, but I knew it showed. Bad things happened when any of us went into the city. While looking for Merle and the bag of guns rick had left some Mexicans kidnapped Glenn and ended up with half the guns. Not to mention the fact that Merle had cut off his own hand to escape the handcuffs and was not found.

I looked at Daryl who was sitting next to me. His gaze was far off, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking about.

"What's on ur mind?" He asked feeling my eyes on him.

"Do you think this is going to work?" I asked.

He shrugged. "What else we got?"

"Yeah" I commented absently.

"We could sit round here and wait to get bit, or we can do sumthin."

I nodded. "I know it's just whenever any of us go to town something bad happens."

Now it was Daryl's turn to give a needless "Yeah."

"I'm sorry you didn't find Merle." I told him as I laid my head on his arm.

"That tough sumbitch is out there somewhere." Daryl told me kissing my hair.

I laughed a little. He probably was.

We were leaving first thing in the morning for the CDC and everyone was packing up there non essentials for the trip.

I looked in the back of my car. It was all I had left of home. I had more than most of the others though. I packed all of my unneeded things in the corner behind the driver's seat. I was lucky to own a car that had seats that lay down.

I finished up and looked around me. Other people were still getting things ready so I set off to see if I could help.

Our group had become much smaller after the Walker attack. Faces were sad. And though I hadn't lost anyone close to me I still felt the sadness. We all depended on each other and the loss of each person was felt deeply through each of us. The sad part was that we had to move on. There was no time to truly mourn what we had lost. All there was is to pick up and move on.

"Take a walk with me." Daryl whispered in my ear as he walked up behind me. I was lost in thought so he startled me a bit.

I nodded as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me off into the woods.

"Where are we going?" I asked after a few moments.

Daryl didn't respond instead he checked the area for any threats. Suddenly he stopped and whirled around his mouth was on mine in and instant.

I returned the kiss full force. Our lips meshed together in frenzy. Every part of my body that his hands touched felt as though it had been struck by lightning. Slowly the whole world slipped away. There were no Walkers no Apocalypse nothing. Just me and the man I was falling in love with.

After a while we broke the make out session both of us breathing heavy.

"Not that I am in any way complaining" I said between breaths "but what the hell was that about?"

Daryl smiled at me seductively. "You looked like you needed it."

I laughed. "You have no idea."

He leaned closer to me wrapping his fist in my hair. We locked eyes for a moment.

"I think I do." He whispered softly before reengaging the kiss.

Slowly Daryl backed me up till my back was pressed against a tree. His hand roamed under my shirt on the bare skin of my sides. My fingers ran through his hair as I used my leg to hold him as close as possible to me.

Daryl slowly pulled away leaving me in a cloud of ecstasy slumped against the tree.

After a moment I slowly opened my eyes. The look in Daryl's eyes was that of a wild animal. I cocked my head to the side and gave him a half smile.

"You Mr. Dixon are incredible." I breathed.

He smiled. "Ain't seen nothin yet."

My heart thumped wildly in my chest. I believed him. If making out with him mad my body respond like that then I couldn't even imagine what taking it further would do.

Daryl reluctantly looked up at the sky. It was getting dark and we didn't want to be stuck in the middle of the woods at night. He looked at me and I nodded wordlessly.

I slowly removed myself from the tree. My legs were like jelly as I followed Daryl closely. I still couldn't keep a small smile from playing across my lips.

Nobody noticed as Daryl and I emerged from our path in the woods. I was thankful. I didn't want anyone's inquisition ruining what had just happened. I was going to hold on to that moment as long as possible.

Daryl walked me to the car. "I'll be right back." He kissed my forehead and walked over to where he had his little camping area set up.

I watched him for a moment before sighing and reaching into the car for my pajamas.

Just then Carol, Sophia, and Lori came over.

"Were going down to the water to wash up." She smiled that motherly smile of hers. "We thought maybe you would want to join us."

I smiled. "I would love to" I grabbed my bathroom things, pajamas bottoms, and a tank top, closed the hatch to the car, and follow the women.

I didn't want to wash Daryl off me but I also didn't want to go to sleep with all the nasty on me from the recent events. The water was cool on my skin. It gave me goose bumps.

It was almost dark by the time we made our way back to camp. I felt so much better. Daryl was leaning against the back of the car when I walked up.

"Hey." I smiled as I opened up the hatch and put my stuff inside.

Daryl looked at me wordlessly. I was getting a little self-conscience as he stared.

"What?" I asked.

Daryl seemed to shake himself awake. "Umm…" he looked to the side of him where his bag, crossbow, and Tent set. I also notice that his Motorcycle was now sitting next to my car.

I raised my eyebrow at him in question.

"I thought it would be easier to move out in the mornin if my tent and stuff was already ready to go."

I smiled and chuckled softly. "Smooth Dixon, very smooth."

He laughed at me and rolled his eyes.

"Put what you can fit up front. I don't want it in the way."

Daryl nodded as he grabbed his stuff and made his way to the front of the car. These actions did not go unnoticed by the other campers. Rick and Shane were whispering about something as they looked over at my car. I gave them a "What the hell are you looking at?" look and walked up to the front of the car. I opened the dash board box and grabbed my best friend Sadie's pack of cigarettes that she always kept in there.

I rarely smoked but when I did it was like a drug. It didn't take much and I was calm. I lit one up in plain view of everyone. Just as I did Daryl came around the side of the car.

"Do I smell…?" He sniffed.

Just then I crinkled my nose and started laughing. Sadie that little bitch had made herself some joints in disguise.

"I swear I didn't know." I laughed as Daryl took the Joint from me.

He laughed at my giddiness as he took a drag to test it for himself.

"How could you not know?" he asked handing it back to me.

"My best friend Sadie left them in my car. I thought they were just regular cigarettes." I took a drag and handed it back to him.

He laughed and took a drag. I started to walk to the back of the car. So far nobody had said anything, and I was extremely happy to be downwind of the group.

Daryl and I finished off the joint. I did it more in honor of my probably dead friend, but also I was nervous about sleeping in the car with Daryl. I had done it before, but this time there was not crying over some bad thing that happened. This was after the very heated make out session in the woods.

I was nervous as we climbed into the back of the car and closed the hatch.

"Ya ok?" Daryl asked putting a strand of hair behind my ear.

I nodded. "I'm great."

He smiled and leaned in for a kiss. He kissed me softly.

"Better get some sleep." He said when the kiss broke.

I looked at him. "I don't want to sleep." I grabbed his shirt.

Daryl reached up and grabbed my hands in his.

My face fell and my stomach twisted. I pulled away. "You don't want me?"

He groaned "More than you know."

I looked at him in disbelief. "You don't have to lie."

Quickly Daryl grabbed my hand and placed it on the bulge in the front of his jeans.

I gasped inwardly pleased. "Then why?"

He pulled me back to him. "Not here, not like this."

"But we could be dead tomorrow." I protested as I snuggled against his chest.

He chuckled. "I didn't wait my whole life for ya to die right after meetin ya."

"Fair enough." I laughed.

Daryl held me tight as we slept that night, another dreamless night that I was thankful for.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up alone. That was nothing new. Daryl had a habit of sneaking out and leaving me sleeping. It didn't bother me. It was sweet that he wanted me to have sleep.

I groaned and stretched. I didn't want to get up. My stomach was in knots over heading to the CDC today. I knew that more than likely something was going to go wrong.

I reached in my bag and grabbed some clothes to get dressed. After I opened the hatch and crawled out reluctantly. Everyone was loading up the last of their stuff to leave. Daryl was talking to the men of the group. I assumed it was about plans for traveling, hopefully safely.

"You all set to go?" Jacquie asked as she came up behind me.

"Yeah." I closed the hatch. "I'm all set."

She smiled at me and continued making her way to camp. I didn't have anything else to do so I followed behind.

I looked over at the group of men. They looked tense. Daryl looked pissed. I was assuming that it had something to do with Jim since he kept looking at the RV. I didn't want Jim to be killed while he was still human, but I did understand the threat he posed.

The male group disbanded and made their way over to the rest of us.

"Okay everyone it's time to move out." Shane began. "For those of you with CB's keep it on channel 40. If there is any problem and you don't or can't use your CB then hit the horn one time. That will stop the caravan."

He looked at us in question to see if we all understood.

"We're not going." Morales told us as he put his arm around his wife.

Some of us gasped in surprise.

"We have family in Birmingham." She added.

"If you do this you are unprotected. That means no one to watch your back." Shane interjected.

"I need to do what's best for my family." Morales replied.

Rick nodded to Shane. They had a short mumbled conversation. He then handed Morales a gun and some ammo.

Everyone said their goodbyes. The kids had all become fast friends so they were crying and hugging. The rest of us hugged them and gave them our best wishes.

"Alright let's move out!" Shane hollered and with that we all disbanded to our own vehicles.

"I'm gonna put my bike in the back of the truck and Glenn is gonna drive it." Daryl informed me as we made our way to my car.

"Okay." I smiled. "You want to drive?" I pulled out my keys and held them up to him.

He grabbed them quickly from my hand. I laughed and went to move his stuff to the back while he put his bike up.

"This is such a girl car." Daryl commented in frustration as he adjusted the seat and mirrors.

"Well that makes sense since I'm a girl." I laughed watching him.

He groaned and rolled his eyes as we started off down the road. We drove in silence without any music. That was fine with me. We needed to hear if anything went on. If anyone honked and we missed it then that might have consequences.

Suddenly there was a honk and we all stopped.

"I'll see what's up." Daryl told me as he got out.

A few other people got out as well. I waited impatiently for Daryl to come back. I was hoping that whatever was going on wasn't too bad, but I knew that we wouldn't have stopped for something trivial either.

After a few minutes I saw Jim being carried out of the RV and set gently under a big tree. I had to know what was going on so I got out of the car and made my way over to the small group.

Jim was hurting bad. You could see the pain all over his face. He looked like he had been to hell and back.

I wasn't too shocked when people started telling him goodbye. He had decided that this is where he wanted to be when he died. My heart ached for him. If I ever got bit I would not want to suffer like that. I wouldn't want to come back as a Geek either.

Tears formed in my eyes as it was my turn to tell Jim goodbye. He smiled at me.

"Don't be sad kid."

The tears flowed down my cheeks. He was dying and he was smiling at me.

"I'm sorry Jim." I sniffed.

"You're a good kid Anna." He winced in pain as he looked up at Daryl. "You make sure you keep her safe."

Daryl nodded wordlessly at him.

I hugged Jim as gently as I possibly could, told him goodbye, and made my way back to the HHR. I couldn't be there anymore. I had said goodbye and I didn't think that I could have stayed around to witness anyone else.

I was sitting in the car with my knees pulled up tightly to my chest when Daryl came back. He sat down and sighed.

"Ya ok?" he asked looking at me.

No I wasn't ok. It was hard knowing that we were leaving a man on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere just waiting to die. Of course I didn't want Daryl worrying about me so I nodded simply to him and looked out the window.

I was off in my own world so I hadn't realized how much time had passed, but we were stopping down the road from a large building, the CDC. The only problem was there were bodies everywhere. I couldn't see any Walkers, but that didn't mean anything.

"Oh my God." I gasped as I looked at the field of rotting corpses.

"Ya got somethin to cover yer mouth, and nose with?" Daryl asked as he crinkled his nose as the sight.

I nodded and grabbed my winter stocking cap out of the glove compartment in front of me.

Daryl nodded. "When we get out I want you to stay with me. If I run, you run. If I stop, you stop."

I nodded at him nervously.

"Most of all be quiet."

"I will." I answered meekly.

We watched the others for a moment. We needed a sign that it was time to go. Slowly Rick made his way out into the open. He made a signal for all of us to follow him. Slowly and silently we all made our way behind him.

The smell was overwhelming. It was like every dead body in the world lay rotting in front of us. I almost threw up. I did as Daryl instructed and didn't move from his side.

Slowly we made our way to the front door of the CDC. All of our hearts fell as we tried to get in only to find the doors locked. We stayed on guard for Walkers as Rick knocked on the door. The sound did not go unnoticed by the local walkers. They swarmed on us instantly. Rick banged harder when he noticed the camera by the door follow his movements. Getting no response made him mad. He angrily pleaded with anyone on the inside to let us in.

Those of us with weapons took down what Walkers we could.

"Let's just go!" Shane yelled taking down a Walker.

We all turned to go. We needed to make our way back to the vehicles before we were too surrounded to make it.

Suddenly the doors to the CDC opened and a bright light spilled out of the building.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N

A little treat for you all enjoying Daryl and Anna's story. These are two of my favorite chapters. just a note that a lot to come will be AU. Enjoy! And please dont forget to comment...

We entered the CDC quickly. There was one man standing alone in the middle of the room. He had his gun pointed at our group.

"What do you want?" he asked shaky.

"A chance." Rick answered hopefully and tiredly.

The man slowly lowered his gun. "That's a lot to be asking these days."

Rick slowly lowered his gun signaling to the rest of us that we needed to lower ours.

"Is anyone in group infected?" asked the man.

"One of us was." Rick answered. "He didn't make it."

"A blood test," he said. "That's the price of admission."

"Fair enough." Rick responded for all of us.

"If there is anything that you need to bring in do it now. Once those doors close they won't open again."

The men quickly ran out to get our things. When they got inside the big doors sealed behind them. For once the thought of maybe being safe occurred to all of us.

"I'm Dr. Edmond Jenner."

Rick took turns introducing all of us as we made our way to a set of elevators.

Dr. Jenner gave us the tour of the guest facilities underground.

"The housing units are closed off to save power, but the couches are comfortable and there are cots in storage if you prefer."

I was just thankful to be inside a safe building. I didn't care if I was sleeping in the corner of a crowded room on the floor.

"And there is a rec room that you kids might enjoy." Dr. Jenner smiled at Sophia and Carl. "Just don't plug anything in. we need to conserve power."

The kids smiled in glee.

"Same goes for the rest of you." Dr. Jenner pointed around our group. "If you take a shower, go easy on the hot water."

We all looked at each other in amazement. I smiled hot water. It had been weeks since any of us had taken a shower. Let alone felt hot water.

We continued down the hall to a large room. Dr. Jenner to told the automatic system, which he called Vi to turn on the lights.

"Welcome to Zone 5." Jenner announced.

Dr. Jenner explained to us how he was the only Doctor left because the others had left or "opted out" as he called it (Suicide). He continued to tell us the aspects of the place and the minimum things we needed to know to be there.

We followed him to a little area where one by one he sat us down and drew our blood. Some were okay with it and others were squeamish. I didn't really have a problem with it. As long as I could see needles going into me I was usually okay, but if I could I was like a two year old.

After the blood was all drawn Jenner led us to a cafeteria place. There was actual food and liquor. I was happy to see both.

We made food and sat down to eat, one big happy family. I snatched up a bottle of Jamison on the way to my seat. Daryl gave me a funny look and I just smiled back.

Nobody cared about underage drinking that night. Even Carl had a taste of wine. Everyone laughed when he was grossed out by the taste. Glenn was toasted. Everyone was having a good time. It was so wonderful for everyone to relax and push all their worries aside, even if it was just one night.

I spent most of my night next to Daryl. He was my rock and I didn't care if anyone gave us any looks about our relationship. I liked seeing him relax a little. He was always so tense worried about something or looking for Walkers. He didn't have to do that here, none of us did.

After getting pretty drunk and having a ton of laughs we all decided it was time to disband to our own rooms. I was very tipsy, and I could hear the shower calling my name.

"I can't wait to feel hot water on my skin!" I announced as a few of us strolled down the long hallway.

Glenn laughed along with T-Dog.

I found the room I had picked that contained mine and Daryl's bags.

I hollered goodnight to anyone who was still in the hall to hear me, then stepped inside.

Daryl kissed me quickly after we stepped into the room. "Go get in the shower. I gotta go talk to Rick."

"K" I whispered at him as I walked away removing clothes without looking back. I heard his sharp intake of breath as I neared the bathroom door in nothing but my underwear.

I turned on the water and stepped inside. I closed my eyes as the water hit me. It was like heaven. I felt the weeks of dirt and grime melt off of me.

I heard the bathroom door open and smiled to myself. I didn't turn around and look as Daryl opened the shower door and stepped inside with me. I felt his finger tips on the small of my back. It made me shiver despite the temperature of the water raining down on me.

Daryl kissed up the back of my neck. I smiled as he turned me around to face him. There was an unmistakable fire in his eyes. He kissed me hard. I returned it just as fierce. We let the water run over us as we kissed.

After a while Daryl turned the water off and we got out. I had never felt better.

We dried off and made our way to the bed. I was nervous. Daryl had said not in the back of the car. Well we were safe tonight and we had a bed.

"Yer beautiful." Daryl said locking eyes with me as we made our way to the bed.

I blushed.

He kissed me passionately as we fell into the bed. Every touch every movement was like magic. I couldn't get enough of him. The whole night was spent exploring every inch of each other.


	13. Chapter 13

I was sitting in my bedroom talking on the phone to one of my friends. It was an ordinary day. Some movie was playing on the TV, something with zombies in it. I wasn't really paying attention to it at first. I rarely pay attention to the TV when I'm on the phone.

"Are you going to The Ally with me on Saturday?" Sadie asked.

The Ally was a club that we hung out at sometimes when we were bored.

"Duh," I sighed laying back into my pillows. "What the hell else are we going to do?"

Sadie laughed at me. "Good because I told these two cute guys I met today that we were going to be there."

I was trying to process what she was saying, but the images on TV had started to capture my attention. The scene had changed. It suddenly looked as if the zombies were running around my neighborhood. "Weird." I thought.

"Earth to Anna," Sadie sighed annoyed. "Are you listening to me?"

"Sadie I'll call you back." I told her as I hung up. I didn't even wait for her answer.

As I hung up the phone I scooted down onto the bed to see the TV better. There was a zombie attacking a woman in front of a house that looked just like the house across the street from mine.

Suddenly they stopped. All the zombies on the screen turned and looked right at the camera.

I gasped. It was as if they were looking right at me. The started towards the screen, and as the camera panned back my front lawn came into view. The zombies crossed the street, went past my car, and walked right up to my front door.

I could hear the banging on the front door downstairs. I panicked and heard my mom holler that she was getting the door.

"No Mom!" I screamed as I jumped off my bed and fled out my bedroom door.

But by the time I reached the downstairs hall I was too late. My Mom was swarmed by zombies. I was helpless standing there staring at the horror before me.

My Dad came around the corner from the living room, but before he could reach me a zombie came from nowhere and bit him in the neck. I screamed.

"Run Anna!" My Dad hollered as he pointed to the side door of the kitchen. I nodded in tears and did what he said.

I ran bare foot out into the yard. I didn't know where to go. I heard the engine of a motorcycle and took off in the direction of it.

There was a man, devastating handsome sitting on a motorcycle using a crossbow to take out the zombies that were advancing on him.

"Anna, this way!" The stranger hollered in between shots.

I didn't know how he knew my name and I didn't care. I ran in his direction as fast as I could.

When I was about fifteen feet from him a zombie came from behind a tree and grabbed onto the man's leather vest. At the same time one grabbed onto my shirt.

I screamed and pulled away. I reached uselessly towards the man in front of me. He did the same, neither of us nearing the other.

I gasped in dread as the zombie bit down on the man's shoulder. I screamed falling to the ground hopeless.

I woke up screaming in the dark. I was disoriented, and for a moment had no idea where I was. I fought off hands that were trying to hold on to me.

"Anna, Anna," Daryl tried to hold me to him.

I slowly stopped fighting as I heard his voice. I looked at him for a moment before I started crying. It had been my first true break down that wasn't directly after a horrible event.

Daryl held me to his chest rocking me like a child as I clung to him sobbing.

After a little while I started to calm down. I pulled away from Daryl slowly and wiped the tears from my face.

"What happened?" Daryl asked very concerned.

I filled him in on the entire dream, trying not to cry as I did.

"It was so awful Daryl." I sighed.

"That's a lot to go through in one night." He commented.

"Yeah." I replied taking a deep breath.

There was a knock on the door. Daryl pulled on his jeans. Even being as traumatized as I was I didn't let the sexiness of his bare ass go unnoticed.

Daryl opened the door to find Rick, Shane, and Dale standing on the other side.

"What's going on in here?" Shane demanded.

"She had a bad dream." Daryl explained. I could tell he wasn't too happy with Shane's tone.

"Anna?" Shane's voice carried into the room.

I sighed and got up from our makeshift bed. I had to put on some clothes to speak with the company that I wasn't really in the mood for.

"Yeah?" I questioned as I came to the door and stepped in front of Daryl.

"You ok?" Rick asked.

"We heard screaming." Dale added.

I shrugged. "It's just like Daryl said. I had a nightmare and woke up screaming."

Rick nodded and stepped back. Dale asked if I needed anything. I smiled at him and told him no, but thank you. Shane however still looked at us in disbelief. What the hell did he think? Did he think Daryl was doing something to me?

I had grown a little skeptical of Shane lately. He seemed to be going a little crazy and his anger level was rising as well.

"Thank you guys from your concern." I smiled "But really everything is fine."

Shane sniffed and nodded his head in his way that I can't explain, and stepped back.

"What's going on?" Lori asked walking up our group.

"She had a nightmare." Rick explained to her.

Shane looked at her approach and walked away quickly.

What the hell was that all about?

Lori looked at me with concern. "You ok?"

I nodded at her with a smile.

She nodded back as she grabbed Rick by the arm.

"She's fine honey. We have all had those dreams."

He nodded, and walked away with Dale following behind.

I walked away from the door, and Daryl closed it.

"Nosey people." I said sitting down on the bed.

"They just worry about ya around me." He told me as he sat down next to me.

"I don't know why." I stated honestly.

Daryl laughed slightly. "You honestly can't figure out why they don't want to see a beautiful girl, who they assume can't be older than sixteen spending all her time with a much older and scary guy like me?"

I laughed. I could see their concern. I knew that even in the real world before all of the Walkers that our relationship would have been a concern for anyone, but it was also our business, not theirs.

"What is this Daryl?" I asked suddenly scared of what we were to each other.

He looked at me in question.

"Us, Daryl," I elaborated. "What are we?"

He looked at me for a moment. Every second he spent not answering was one more second my stomach spent in knots.

I pulled my legs up to my chest. I had been so stupid. I thought maybe I meant something to Daryl. I guess I was just post-apocalyptic convenience to him.

"What are you thinking?" He asked.

I wiped away the tear that had started to roll down my cheek.

"I'm just a stupid little girl who fell in love with a guy who doesn't feel the same way."

Daryl laughed as he reached up and wiped away the new tears that were falling.

I looked at him angrily. The Ass-Hat was laughing at me!

Daryl leaned real close to my face. "You're not a stupid little girl if the guy loves you back." He whispered.

I looked up at him with wide eyes. Daryl Dixon loved me? The hard ass Walker killing redneck that scared the piss out of everyone around him was in love with me.

I smiled at him. "You love me?"

"Ya don't see me acting this way with anyone else in our group do ya?" he asked me with a cocky smile.

I laughed. He was right. He may have a few nice moments with some of the group but nothing as far as anything close to the way he was with me.

Daryl kissed me softly.

"Do you feel better now?" He asked as the kiss broke.

I nodded. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"Everything," I laid my head on him. "I wouldn't still be alive if it wasn't for you, and even if I was I wouldn't be anywhere near as happy as I am now."

He hugged me to him wordlessly.

I tipped my head up to give him a kiss before going back to sleep. I was thankful the rest of the night was dreamless


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I'm back! Sorry it's been so long since I've given you guys an update. Please don't hate me LOL. I have had some stuff going on that has kept me from writing. I promise to try to update more often. I hope you all like the story! Hope you like this chapter as well! PLEASE READ and REVIEW!!! Love you all!!!

I had the worst headache when I woke up. I rolled over and looked at the empty space in bed next to me. Classic, Daryl was gone as usual. I got up slowly and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a bat print tank top. I tied my hoodie around my waist. I got pretty cold underground in the CDC.

After I put on my shoes and brushed out my long black hair I went to the eating area to find everyone. I was pretty sure that Daryl and I would get some looks today given the advance in the status of our relationship.

I was only partially right. Everyone was nursing their hangovers when I walked in the room. My headache wasn't a hangover; I had never had one in my life, however crying my eyes out in the middle of the night usually made its presence known the next day.

I sat down as T-Dog was serving eggs. They smelled amazing. I noticed a bottle of aspirin being passed around; I gratefully took some to ease my throbbing head.

Daryl sat down next to me. "You feelin better?" He asked as he grabbed the bottle from my hand.

I nodded as I took a drink of water.

Just then Dale started asking Dr. Jenner some questions. Jenner reluctantly nodded and had us follow him to the main room.

As we all took up positions around the room Jenner instructed Vi to run videos for tS19. The screen came alive with the image of a human X-ray. It showed blue electric pathways in the human brain. It was interesting looking. I had seen something similar on The Doctors some time ago. What id didn't see however was the progression of someone who had been bit by a walker. As we watched the subject on the screen slowly became more and more infected by whatever it was that made the Walkers.

Before our eyes the blue slowly disappeared only to be replaced by dense black nothing. Some people in our group talked amongst themselves, I however was speechless. I only gasped when the lights started to return. This time in hues of bright hot red.

"It restarts the brain." I whispered.

"How?" Rick asked.

"Well, not the whole brain, just the stem. The rest, the part that makes you you, that doesn't ever come back.

I looked over to see a tear fall down Andrea's face. I felt for her. I missed Amy too.

Some of us gasped when the walker on the screen suddenly regained its skills. It was trashing and snapping at the nothing around it. Suddenly something came in view on the screen and shot the Walker in the head. Its movement ceased.

Dr. Jenner had shot his own patient.

"It's Everywere isn't it?" Andrea asked.

Jenner hesitated before nodding. He explained how he had lost contact with everyone in his network.

Daryl sighed from beside me. "I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again."

If it would have been any other situation I would have laughed.

"Doctor I know this has been taxing for you, and I hate to ask another question, but…" Dale turned his attention to the wall.

"But you will." Jenner sighed combing his fingers through his hair.

"That clock. It's counting down to something. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators," Jenner sighed tiredly. "They run out of fuel."

We all made noise and started talking and whispering amongst ourselves.

"And then?" Rick asked him.

Jenner didn't answer him. He just shook his head in defeat and left the room.

I started to panic looking at Daryl. We had just found the CDC It was our hope.

Rick turned to the one person who wasn't afraid to answer him. "Vi what happens when the power runs out?"

Vi answered. "When the power runs out facility-wide decontamination will occur."

I didn't like the way that sounded. Decontamination meant it was going to clean the entire place, but how?

We all decided to go back to our rooms. There wasn't anything that we could do as long as Jenner wasn't going to speak to us. I figured that I better start packing my stuff. If we were running out of power then we couldn't stay here forever, especially underground in a very air tight tomb.

Daryl came in behind me with a bottle in his hand. Apparently he was serious about getting drunk again.

"What ya doin?" he asked running his fingers through my hair.

I stopped for a moment enjoying the feel of him.

Suddenly the air turned off. I looked up at the vent, then at Daryl. Why did the air stop?

Daryl walked away from me and leaned out the door. There were now others doing the same. "Whys everythin' turnin off?"

Jenner walked past him grabbing the bottle of liquor from his hand. "Hey!" Daryl scolded looking down and his now empty hand.

Jenner answered without emotion. "Energy use is being prioritized."

"Air and lights aren't a priority?" Dale asked in what could be interpreted as sarcastically from anyone else.

Jenner walked away with his bottle in hand. "Zone 5 is shutting itself down, it isn't my decision."

I looked at Daryl, grabbed my packed bag and took off in the direction everyone else was now headed.

Daryl ran ahead catching up with Jenner. "What the hell's that mean shutting itself down? How the hell can a building make that decision?"

Jenner didn't answer him and Daryl was getting pissed.

"Hey I'm talkin to you!" Daryl yelled in Jenner's face. "How the hell can that happen?"

"You'd be surprised…" Jenner answered calmly.

"Jenner what's happening?" Rick asked as he ran in the room flanked by Shane and a few others.

"The system is dropping all its non-essential uses of power. It keeps nothing but the computers running until the very last possible second."

We walked into the computer room. All of us glancing up at the menacing numbers that were ticking away on the wall above us.

"00:31:28." I muttered.

"Right on schedule." Jenner said to himself as he walked up the platform and handed Daryl back his bottle.

Daryl yanked it away from him. Still clearly pissed off at the man for what was happening.

"The French were it." Jenner stated.

"What?" I asked.

"They were the last to make it. While we were running trying to save ourselves or killing ourselves out of hopelessness, they were working hard to find a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

Jenner shrugged. "Exactly what you see here. It's the same everywhere. Some places have just held on longer." He chucked to himself.

Shane apparently didn't like Jenner's tone, or lack of one and/or attitude, because before anyone could blink he was on him. Rick grabbed him and stopped him before any damage could be done.

After making sure Shane was calm Rick turned to the rest of us. "Get your stuff! Go now!"

We didn't ask questions we just ran for the door. But we stopped as lights started to flash and annoying horns started to blast in our ears.

I looked up. "30 Minutes to decontamination." Flashed across the screen as well as being said by Vi's computer voice.

Jenner didn't say anything, he just punched a few buttons on his giant computer board.

"We got to hurry!" Glen said panicking. "Let's go!"

We all started for the door again, but suddenly it closed down right in front of us.

We looked around and the group headed to the only other exit from the room sadly it too closed just before we got to it. We were so close that those of us in front ran into it as it closed.

"Did he just lock us in?" I heard someone ask.

We ran back to Jenner who remained calm despite being surrounded by a large group of very angry people.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked angrily.

Jenner let out a non-emotional chuckle. "This place is designed to keep any organisms from getting out. In case of a terrorist attack for example, HITs are deployed to prevent anything from getting out."

"HITs?" Rick asked.

"Vi." Jenner simply said.

"HITs: High Impulse Thermobaric fuel explosives."

My face fell along with all the others around me. That was how the decontamination happened. It burned the building.

I panicked and ran to the door and stared to hit and kick effortlessly against it along with Daryl and some others. It would never do any good, but what else were we going to do?

A/N: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! Love you my dear readers!!


	15. Chapter 15

Kicking the door did nothing but start to make my foot hurt through my Converse. I turned around sliding down the door in defeat. I took in the scene around me. Some of the others were trying in vain to get through the thick steel doors with fire axes. They weren't doing any more damage than I had with my shoe.

Some people were crying, others arguing. Carol sat on the floor holding Sophia in tears. None of us deserved to die like this. We were having the choice to live taken away from us. It didn't matter what kind of world we were returning to. A few tears escaped my eyes as I looked at Daryl who beat away on the door next to me. I was going to lose this man that I had fallen so in love with.

"Daryl." I said his name softly but loud enough for him to hear me.

It took him a moment but he stopped and looked at me. He was still kind of drunk and sweat coated his face and neck.

"It's no use." I shook my head. "We're going to die down here."

Daryl dropped to his knees next to me. "We are not going to die in this place." He panted.

I put my hand on the side of his wet face. "Just kiss me please." I begged. "Kiss me one more time."

His face fell as I could swear I heard his heart breaking before me. He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me with all the love and passion he could muster. Tears streamed down my face as I returned the kiss just a fierce.

Suddenly, just as I had resigned to my fate, the door in front of us opened up. I opened up. Daryl and I broke the kiss and looked at each other. It was unbelievable. We heard someone yelling "GO!" and we did just that. Everyone ran panicky to grab their belongings before they were obliterated. I felt a little selfish not worrying about anyone in particular but Daryl and Myself.

We finally made our way upstairs to the main entrance. The light streamed in from the outside. I couldn't wait to be on the other side of that glass. The only problem was when we tried to open the doors they wouldn't budge. Panic set back in as T-Dog picked up a chair and threw it against the resistant glass. It bounced right off. Shane told everyone to step back as he aimed his shotgun at the glass and fired, once again nothing.

Suddenly Carol produced a miracle from her bag. Everyone watched as she handed Rick a hand grenade.

"Get back!" Rick hollered as he made his way to a part of the window to set it off.

Daryl grabbed me and pinned me underneath him to shield me. I locked eyes with him just as the blast came. It was so loud that it made my ears ring.

Within seconds we were all running through the broken window and out into the horror of rotting bodies and Walkers.

We just made it to the HHR when fire erupted from the CDC. It was ten times the force of the small hand grenade that went off only moments before.

I held my ears and prayed that we were far enough away from the explosion.

"Anna." Daryl said holding me and rubbing my back.

I looked up at him then over at what was once the CDC. It was nothing but a pile of burning ruble now. It was over and we were safe. I kissed Daryl quickly before throwing my arms around him and hugging him with all my mite.

Daryl chuckled as he hugged me back. I knew I hadn't seen everyone get out of the building. Once again guilt seized me when I was so happy just to be out and have Daryl by my side.


	16. Chapter 16

We wasted no time getting out of the city. We knew that we would have dozens of Walkers descending on us in no time. The sound of the blast from the CDC had echoed for miles. I watched from the window in silence as we made haste from the facility.

"Yer pretty quiet." Daryl remarked when we were a few miles out.

A tear sprang up in my eye. I didn't answer him. I knew that if I did I would start crying more than just a tear.

"Anna it's gonna be ok." He told me as he laid his big strong hand on my black clad thigh.

That was all it took. I started crying uncontrollably. I thought about Jacqui and Dr. Jenner. It didn't take long to figure out that they were the only two who hadn't come out of the building before the explosion. I thought about how we had just lost our chance at safety. Now we were back on the road, back in the open with the Walkers.

Daryl was trying to calm me down while still paying attention to what was going on around us.

"Cryin ain't gonna do you no good." He told me. "It was their choice to stay, and we chose to live."

I nodded. I knew he was right. "We were so safe there though." I sobbed.

Daryl gave me the sexy lopsided grin that melted my heart. "As long as I'm around, yer safe in a room full of Geeks."

I laughed through my tears. I had no doubt he meant what he said. Daryl would protect me with his last breath. Sometimes that thought scared me. He smiled back at me just as we pulled back into the quarry lot. We all got out of our vehicles somber. Some people were hugging others. Our group was even smaller now. Smaller numbers made us more vulnerable.

"Glad you're ok." Carol said as she gave me a hug. Sophia was next. She wrapped her skinny little arms around my waist and squeezed tight. I hugged her back just as hard. We were all smiling with what little relief we had found in the joy of still being alive.

"Ok everyone listen up!" Rick hollered just loud enough for everyone to hear. Daryl stood behind me with his arms wrapped around me. His presence calmed me more that he would ever know.

Shane joined Rick. They were the unofficial leaders of our small group. No one seemed to question them much except for maybe Andrea. I looked over at her. She was too consumed by what had transpired over the last few days to care much about what was going on.

She had lost her sister Amy and from what I could gather so far wanted to stay behind in the CDC until Dale forced her to come back to the group.

"We are not staying here." Shane said interrupting my thoughts. "It isn't any safer than it was when we left."

"We will stay the night then head out at dawn." Rick added. "Then we will try to make our way to Fort Benning."

I was not thrilled with going back out on the road again. But they were right. The situation at the quarry hadn't changed. We had been attacked here, violated in the place that we had temporarily claimed as home. We would never feel safe here again. Moving on was our only option.

I felt Daryl kiss the back of my head. His lips relaxed me instantly.

"There will be no sleeping in tents tonight." Rick continued. "Only sleeping in locked vehicles for everyone. Now I know this will be tight but we can't risk the Walkers.

We had enough vehicles to accommodate everyone. I was hoping we could do it comfortably to where Daryl and I could have the HHR to ourselves. I looked around. There were only elven of us left. We had my HHR, Dales RV, Shane's Jeep, Carol's car, Daryl's truck, and the red sports car Glenn had stolen from Atlanta when the group was escaping from a huge herd of walkers. We had lost the big truck when they had gone back to the city to find Merle.

In the end I got my wish. Everyone had made a bed for themselves and Daryl and I had my car to ourselves. It was dusk when Rick ordered everyone to be locked up for the night. I had a feeling the men weren't going to get much sleep. We all piled into our beds for the night.

Daryl snuggled me into his arms tightly as we lay in the dark.

I couldn't sleep even though I was so tired it was giving me a migraine. Subconsciously I think I was afraid of letting my guard down for even a second for fear of something bad happening.

"Go to sleep Anna." Daryl whispered into my hair.

I knew he wasn't going to sleep. The hunter was going to stay up in protection mode throughout the night. I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right. I needed to get the sleep while I could. There was no telling what was coming next.

"I love you." I whispered softly as I snuggled down deep and drifted of quickly as exhaustion claimed me.

The nightly ritual of dreaming set in shortly after closing my eyes.

I was standing in the middle of the woods. It was cold and the feeling of dread hung on me like a winter coat. I knew something was wrong. There were no sounds around me. Not even that of the crickets. I started to walk forward through the trees. I could see a small clearing ahead of me. Slowly I started hearing people talking and crying. The kids were clutched to their mothers like newborn babies. Sobbing through tear coated faces. The group was standing in a make shift circle around something. I looked around for Daryl who I finally spotted standing apart from the group. He was leaning against a tree with a look of pure hatred on his face. I wanted to go to him and ask what had happened, but I was more drawn to whatever the group was consumed by.

I made my way to them very slowly. Not one of them seemed to acknowledge my presence.

"Why didn't she listen?" I heard Lori ask angrily.

Rick put his arm around her. "She did what she thought was best."

I was concerned now. Who hadn't listened? Who had we lost?

Sophia hugged her mother tightly. "I'm so sorry mamma." She sobbed. "This is all my fault."

"No baby." Carol hugged her tight. "It's something bad that happened that nobody could control."

I looked back over at Daryl as I neared the group. His face had turned from anger to sadness. I had never seen Daryl Dixon cry before. Not even over the loss of his brother, but he was doing that now. Something so bad had happened that it was affecting the group profoundly.

I had finally made my way to the circle. I found the one small opening to peer through. I looked down on the ground to see who lay there.

I gasped in disbelief as my own open lifeless eyes stared back at me.

It was at that moment that I woke up screaming. I was alone and it was just beginning to become light outside.

I looked around for some sign of life. I saw nobody outside of the dark windows. I was shaky and cold. I pulled on my hoodie and opened the hatch. The crisp morning air greeted me. I grabbed my gun and put it in the waistband of my pants. I wasn't going to take any chances. I could hear faint voices coming from the inside of the RV. I leaned against the side of it to listen.


	17. Chapter 17

I leaned close to the open window of the RV.

"I think that trying to make it all that way in one trip is suicide." T-Dog said.

"I disagree." Shane interrupted. "The faster we get there, the faster we get out of danger."

"That's right." Rick agreed. "I think that we should just make a run for it. It's only a couple of hours away."

"That's a couple of hours on a good day." Dale interjected.

"I know that we have zero guarantees about this trip." Rick spoke again. "But we don't have any guarantees about anything."

I could see everyone's point about how to proceed. If we could get there in a straight shot it would be awesome. But it was more likely that we would be confronted by road blocks and other dangers along the way. So did that mean that if we saw a place that we could hold up in that we should stay there overnight even if we thought it was safe to continue?

"What if we skip an opportunity to be safe along the way and something happens right after?" Dale continued.

I had to agree with Dale. He seemed to make the most sense out of everyone talking in the RV.

"I think maybe someone should scout ahead." Glenn spoke for the first time that I heard.

Nobody said anything for a moment.

"I think that splitting the group up in unknown territory is a bad idea." Rick countered.

I agreed. It wasn't like going to town; this was the middle of nowhere.

Suddenly I heard a noise behind me. I whipped around gun in hand only to be confronted face to face with Daryl. I sighed loudly.

"You dumb ass!" I smacked him in the chest. "I could have shot you!"

"What the hell ya doin out here?" he scolded grabbing my gun from me.

"I woke up and you were gone!" I folded my arms across my chest and pouted.

"I went out for a perimeter check." He responded. "Didn't expect ya to wake up."

I took a moment to look at him. I was mad that I woke up alone and had no idea where he was. I should have known he hadn't been in the RV since I didn't hear any smart ass remarks to anybody's suggestions.

Daryl lifted his free hand up to my face. My eyes closed instantly. The feel of him calmed me. I opened my eyes and looked into his. He smiled at me sheepishly.

"Come on." He urged. "Let's go back to the car."

I followed him closely. We climbed through the hatch closing it behind us.

"How come you weren't in the RV with the others?" I asked.

Daryl shrugged. "I didn't really want to be around people. That's why I went out for a look."

"Oh." I muttered looking away.

"People don't include you." Daryl assured me as he grabbed my chin and kissed me fiercely.

I was instantly consumed by him. Nothing mattered when his lips were on mine. Our hands roamed over each other roughly. We both needed to forget everything that had happened the day before. Soon the clothes were gone and I was above Daryl showing him just how much I needed him at that moment.

After I lay motionless in Daryl's arms. I was so thankful that I had tented windows. I hadn't bothered to get dressed and neither had he. I wasn't sure that either of us had had the energy to anyway.

Daryl's fingers made lazy circle on my side. The ripples he sent through me were like nothing I had ever felt in my life.

"I'm so thankful that I was stupid enough to shoot at rabbits." I laughed softly.

"Me too." He agreed kissing the back of my neck.

I moaned lightly at his kiss. "I love you."

He kissed me again before whispering "I love you." softly in my ear.

I shuddered under his lips. It took nothing for him to turn me on like a switch. I knew it affected him too. I could feel him stiffening behind me. I smiled and wiggled into him. Laughing softly as I got the low moan response.

Daryl growled and entered me in response to my tease. I had to stifle a cry as he also bit down on my shoulder. This wasn't comfort sex. This was pure primal need. I just hoped that nobody was around to notice.

A/N: Steamy… Sorry it was so short but if I continued it would have ran on and been too long. So review and continue reading!!! Love you all!!


	18. Chapter 18

Somebody was tapping. I knew I should get up but I was so wore out and had only been asleep for twenty minutes. Finally I opened my eyes to see Rick through the back glass.

"Hold on a second." I hollered as I put on my clothes.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and my wings shirt as Daryl got dressed. I didn't want our time to end but we needed to move on.

I opened the hatch to talk to Rick. The sticky air greeted us instantly. It was going to be a hot day. I was glad we were going to be spending it on the move.

"What's up Mr. Lawman?" I asked swinging my legs out.

Rick gave us an uneasy look. He was still very uncomfortable with Daryl and I being together. I had thought about telling him that I was old enough, but it was just too fun to watch the looks on everyone's faces when they saw the two of us together.

"Were moving out in twenty minutes." He informed us.

"We'll be ready." Daryl responded.

I gave Rick a smile as he walked away in the direction of Shane who stood over by the back of the RV.

Daryl laughed "Why do you torture them?"

I smiled as I leaned into him. "It's the only entertainment I have."

Daryl laughed as he kissed me. We no longer worried about what anyone else at camp thought about our relationship. After everything between us and everything we had been through, life was too short to worry about anything petty like rules and ages. Even if I was underage, the law didn't really mean much at that point.

Daryl moved his hands down my shoulders and I winced. He had rubbed over the spot he had bit. He moved the collar of my shirt down to reveal the marks he had left.

I watched as Daryl's eyes widened at the sight.

"God Anna I'm sorry."

"Please don't be." I begged.

"But." He started but I cut him off.

"Don't ruin what happened." I told him. "Last night was amazing."

He still looked at me with some regret.

"If I bite you back will it make you feel better?" I asked as I put my hands on my hips.

He looked at me for a moment before pulling me into his arms. "It just might." He said before kissing me hard on the lips.

Lori walked up and cleared her throat. She had Carol, Sophia and Carl with her.

Daryl and I broke the kiss and I smiled at her.

"For some reason the kids are begging us to ride with you." She informed me.

I laughed looking at the kids who were staring at me with hopeful eyes.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the DVD player I have in the car would it?" I teased playfully.

Sophia being so shy still hiding behind her mother nodded.

"So that's why." Lori laughed. "I asked them but both of them refused to tell us why."

I smiled. "I don't mind one bit if they want to watch a movie. After all the car will already be on, someone might as well get some use out of it."

The kids smiled from ear to ear.

"Let us get the car all ready to go." I told them as they ran off to play until we left.

"Thank you so much." Carol smiled. "Any amount of joy they can have is a blessing."

"I agree." I told her.

Lori still looked a little uneasy at her son leaving her sight.

"They will be just fine." Daryl assured her as he picked up his crossbow.

She smiled uneasy. "I'm sure they will. Thank you."

And with that she was off.

I turned around to Daryl. "This alright with you?" I asked.

"Well I was lookin forward to havin ya all to myself, but the rug rats need some fun." He kissed me on the forehead. "I'm good with it."

I smiled at him as he went to help the others and I started to get the HHR situated for company.

Around fifteen minutes later we were on the road. Sophia and Carl were giggling in the backseat as they watched Hotel Transylvania.

"ya know you are the most prepared person for the end of the world that I have ever met." Daryl laughed.

I smiled. "It's not really end of the world preparation."

He looked at me to urge me on. It was a little hard to talk because it involved my parents but I took a deep breath and started to speak.

"My dad was born and raised near the mountains in Washington State. He was taught that you always keep your car stocked like a house just in case you get stranded in the snow for a while." I began.

Daryl nodded.

I shrugged. "That way of life for him was unbreakable. He carried it with him even when he moved down south and raised me the same way."

"Smart guy." Daryl told me.

I nodded with a sad smile. "My mother laughed at him all the time. She said that there would never be a need for stuff like that in Atlanta."

Daryl laughed.

"I am very thankful for it. I would have never survived that first week if it hadn't been for all the things I was taught." I admitted.

"You an me make the perfect team." He laughed.

"I agree." I smiled laying my small hand on top of his big one.

Suddenly our caravan slowed and we could see smoke coming from the front of Dales RV just ahead of us. We stopped along with everyone else to see what the problem was.

"Let's go find your parents." I smiled to the kids as I let them out of the car.

We walked around to Carols Cherokee where her and Lori had ridden with Rick. The kids were sad to see their movie end but they were happy to see their parents as well.

"I said this hose wouldn't last." Dale said throwing his hands in the air as steam plumbed out of the front of the RV.

Somebody mentioned Duct Tape and Dale said the hose was mainly duct tape already.

"Well," I shrugged looking around me. "There is plenty of stuff here. I'm sure there is a compatible hose here somewhere. Along with tons of other things we could use."

Lori shook her head. "I don't know how I feel about that." She paused looking around. "This place is a graveyard."

I nodded and looked around as well. It was true many bodies surrounded us. Most hadn't even made it from their cars.

I looked back at her. "I think that if I were them I wouldn't mind."

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"If I were dead and had things that could help someone else live then I would want them to take what they needed, as long as they were respectful about it." I nodded towards Sophia and Carl. "Especially if they had children."

I knew that was kind of a low thing to throw in there but she needed to realize that we were trying to survive not be greedy.

I smiled at her kindly. She returned the smile tentatively and walked away to do some searching.

"Ya sure yer only eighteen?" Daryl questioned as he grabbed me and kissed me on the head.

I smiled. "Last time I checked, though I do feel as if I've aged quite a bit in the past few weeks."

"We all have." He responded as he watched even the children look in the abandoned cars.

I nodded and walked forward to the cars.

"I'm gonna go check the area." Daryl informed me.

"Ok." I told him taking a deep breath and joining the search.

Everyone was finding useful things, clothes, food, even weapons. The search was going well until the first walker appeared. More came to follow.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Hi readers!!! How do we like the story?

It was like a grapevine reaction as one person after the other told the next in line to get down. The advancing herd of Walkers was growing by the second. We all dove under the nearest car that we could. I was under a car with Sophia and Carl while both of their mothers were under one just across the way. They were both terrified to be so close but helpless.

The herd made its way by and we all sighed in relief. I didn't know if we had lost anyone. I had heard some commotion coming from over by the RV.

Sophia was the first to climb out from under our car. She was about half way out when a stray Walker nipped at her and she screamed and took off for the woods. Lori held Carol in place.

"Don't move." I whispered to Carl as I slithered from underneath the car and took off after Sophia.

She was screaming as she ran so she wasn't hard to track.

I saw her just ahead of me being chased by a few Walkers. I got up behind the straggler and took him out with a knife to the head. I wasn't going to be able to get the others. They were fast movers and I was less than half their size.

I could run faster than them though and that's what I did. I ran fast enough to get ahead of Sophia and grab her by the arm as she ran into me. The girl who I tried to remind myself was only five years younger than me was panicking.

"Sophia hush." I soothed as we made our way to the river bed. "The more noise u make the more Walkers with hear us."

She slowly calmed down as we made our way to the other side. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but I thought that maybe the river would at least slow down the advancing walkers enough for Sophia and I to backtrack to where I thought the highway was. Sophia hadn't exactly ran In a straight line.

After a while I could no longer hear or see any Walkers.

"Ok let's stop." I told her as I tried to catch my breath.

The good news was there were no walkers. The bad news was I had no idea where in the hell we were and it was starting to get dark on us. I listened closely to see if I could hear anyone else out there. I was sure that the group was looking for us.

Sophia was clutching tight to her doll as she looked around us.

"What are we going to do Anna?" she asked in a low panicky voice.

"I don't know." I responded honestly shaking my head. "I guess we will try to find some sort of shelter for the night."

"Out here!" she squeaked.

I nodded. "Something is better than nothing." I told her as we looked for some place to stay safe for the night.

After what seemed like forever of walking we came across a farm house. The front door was open and I was worried it might be full of Walkers but it was our only hope and I had to check it out.

"Be very quiet." I told Sophia as we slowly made our way into the house. I didn't really want to take her in with me when I was scouting the place out but I wasn't going to leave her outside by herself and risk her getting spooked and taking off on me.

We checked the house room by room. Thankfully we found nothing. I tried to find someplace secure to bed down for the night. The house was old and had broken windows. I found a large cubby under the stairs. It was perfect. Sophia and I gathered some pillows and blankets I even found some candles in the kitchen. After setting the furniture to block off the entrance to the room we piled into the cubby under the stairs where we prepared to spend the night.

"Do you think they are looking for us?" Sophia asked me after we had got situated.

"I know they are." I told her confidently.

I knew Daryl would never give up until he found me. I was actually worried about him being without me. Like the stubborn ass hillbilly couldn't take care of himself.

I smiled to myself. I couldn't wait to see him again.

Sophia had started to drift off to sleep next to me. I was getting pretty tired as well. I figured I might as well get some sleep while I felt a little secure.

I drifted in and out of sleep. Images of Daryl and the rest of the group flickered in and out of my mind. It was a rough sleep cramped up inside the small space under the stairs.

I could feel it began to become morning. It was cold and I didn't have my hoodie. Sophia was shivering as well wrapped up in her own blanket.

"You ready to get a move on?" I asked her.

She nodded reluctantly.

After listening for any sign of movement outside I slowly opened the cubby door. The morning light streamed into the opening from the open windows. The two of us crawled out from the hole to stretch. Being cramped up all night had sure done a number on us.

"Alright, let's go." I said to her as we vacated the house.

It was already warm out so we were able to leave our blankets there. I was glad because I didn't want to have to haul the heavy thing around.

"Where are we going?" Sophia asked me after a few minutes.

"I'm not really sure." I confessed. "I know that we ran south away from the highway so if we head north today we should come across it at some point."

She accepted my answer with a nod as we moved forward.

The day was long and with no sign of the road. No sign of civilization at all. The highlight of our day was when we stumbled across a peach tree. We loaded up on as much of the fruit as we could and took some with us when we moved on.

It was starting to get dark. I was worried that we were going to be exposed as night fell. We finally stumbled across an old dirt road with some abandoned cars. I was beyond thankful that the old Cadillac that we found was empty. The only thing was a quilt that was placed across the backseat. That I was thankful for as well.

Sophia and I climbed inside where we prepared to spend the night. We locked all the doors and scrunched down in the back floorboards with the quilt covering us. We were much more exposed than we were inside the farm house, but at least we weren't huddled under a tree somewhere.

We were both exhausted and drifted of pretty quickly. Moring came all too soon. We climbed out of the car at daybreak and continued on our path.

Sophia and I were over joyed around midday when we finally came across the highway. The only problem was we didn't know if we should go left or right. We couldn't see any sign of the place where we had come from.

We decided to go west since I was pretty sure we hadn't seen this part of the highway before.

We walked all day. We were getting so tired that I didn't think we would be able to get away from any attacking Walkers.

Around night fall we took shelter in yet another abandoned car. This one was smaller and we were very visible in it. I was worried how it would work out but it was the only one around. We were both tired, hungry, and beyond thirsty.

As I lay my head down on the seat a tear started to fall from my eye. I was beginning to become very discouraged. Why hadn't we been able to find the group yet? Why hadn't they found us? I was getting angry and was starting to wonder if anyone was even looking for us. I mentally kicked myself after that thought. Of course they were looking for us. I looked over at Sophia who was passed out from exhaustion.

I prayed that I would get her home.

I slowly drifted off to sleep myself sometime later. I started dreaming.

It wasn't one of the dreams I was used to. I was laying on the couch in the living room. Was half asleep watching a movie when someone started knocking on the front door. I was tired and didn't want to answer it.

I was hoping that after a minute they would just go away.

The knocking stopped long enough from me to fall asleep to the movie. I heard the knocking again in my sleep. I didn't care who was at the door I wasn't going to open it. They could come back in the morning.

After a few more minutes of being annoyed in both dreams I woke up for real…

To the sight of a Walker banging on the driver side window of the car…

A/N: I didn't really like this chapter. I needed to do the whole lost bit but it seems sort of uninteresting. I guess that's why they didn't show it all on the show. Oh well. Keep reading it will get better!!! REVIEW!!!


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